Kimberley retains scratch championship at Oldmeldrum

Aboyne’s Kimberley Beveridge became the first girl since 2005 to retain the Aberdeenshire Under-18 girls scratch championship at Oldmeldrum last weekend.

The 16-year-old followed in the footsteps of Michele Thomson from Ellon who was Shire girls’ champion in 2004 and 2005 and she went on to win the Scottish women’s championship and play for Great Britain and Ireland in the 2008 Curtis Cup match at the Old Course, St Andrews.

In an 18-hole final Kimberley beat Aboyne clubmate, 12-year-old Shannon McWilliam by 7 and 6 in wet conditions.

Preferred lies were in operation and the water-filled bunkers were classified as “Ground Under Repair”.

Kimberley was level par for the holes played after starting birdie-par-par to be three up after three holes.

She added to that with successes at the fifth, ninth, 10th and 11th before a half ended the match on the 12th green.

For Kimberley and Shannon, the soaking came in the long walk back to the clubhouse.

Shannon had her hour or two of glory in the morning semi-finals when she upset the odds to beat Tegan Seivwright (Deeside) by 3 and 2. Tegan drove out of bounds at the first and was five down after only six holes.

In the other semi-final, Kimberley Beveridge beat Sophie Alexander (Deeside) by 3 and 1.

In the handicap final, 16-year-old Fiona Sutherland (Deeside) beat 11-year-old Jasmine Mackintosh (Hazlehead) by 2 and 1. Fiona, who plays off 21, received four strokes from Jasmine whose handicap is 17.